Obama makes La. endorsement

President Barack Obama is throwing his support behind Louisiana Democrat Cedric Richmond in his race against GOP Rep. Joseph Cao.

The endorsement comes several weeks after Richmond, a state Representative decisively won a crowded primary.

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“Cedric Richmond will make an outstanding representative for this district and I am proud to support him in this election because he shares our values and supports our agenda,” President Obama said in a Sunday evening statement. “I look forward to working with Cedric in the next Congress because he believes in our shared agenda of increasing access to quality, affordable healthcare and investing in job creation.”

Democratic strategists view Richmond as one of a handful of party challengers who have an opportunity to win a GOP-held seat. Obama won 75 percent of the vote in a New Orleans-based 2nd District that has a 59 percent African American population.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has announced plans to air TV ads in the district this fall.

Richmond won his Aug. 29 primary against state Rep. Juan LaFonta, community activist Gary Johnson and Eugene Green, a onetime aide to former Rep. William Jefferson, who lost the seat to Cao in 2008 after being involved in scandal. During the primary, Richmond won the endorsements from Sen. Mary Landrieu, former Sen. John Breaux, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).

In his statement, Obama praised Richmond as a “leader on hurricane recovery and a fighter for the people of New Orleans. He will take those same convictions and priorities to Congress to serve the people of New Orleans and Jefferson Parish who desperately need a Democrat like Cedric to fight alongside us.”